Business.govt.nz

Food Act changes: Will it cost you less?

If you make or sell food, law changes could affect your costs. (Hint: it all comes down to risk.)

If you make or sell food, upcoming changes to the food safety law will affect your costs. For some, it will be cheaper to comply.

The main change is the new law is moving from a one-size-fits-all approach to one that regulates businesses differently depending on the level of risk involved in what they do.

Under the old rules, businesses were checked every year to make sure they met food safety rules. But from 1 March, you can be checked less often if you’re seen as low risk and manage food safety well. This could save your business money. Find out more about fees and charges for your food products (external link) on the Ministry for Primary Industries (MPI) website.

Check your level of risk

Registration fees

Under the current rules, you pay a fee to renew your registration every year. From 1 March, lower-risk businesses only need to renew and pay a fee every two years. Businesses can also reduce the frequency they get checked or audited by managing food safety well.

A high-risk business, eg a restaurant,might be checked as little as once every 18 months if it manages food safety well.

A lower-risk business, eg a corner dairy, might be checked once every two to three years.

A very low-risk business, eg those selling only hot drinks, might have a one-off check if no problems are reported.

Other savings

These are harder to estimate, but could benefit many low- and medium-risk businesses. Under the old rules, the same standards of building maintenance applied to all food businesses. The new rules will assess each premises on the food safety risk of that business. So, a business selling pre-packaged food may not need to repair the same minor floor damage that a business making ready-to-eat foods would need to repair.